RUMFORD — Regional School Unit 10 has been awarded a nearly $1 million federal grant for interactive videoconferencing equipment and other resources that will expand learning opportunities for the district, as well as others based in Andover, Dixfield, Phillips and Rangeley.

The $982,191 Distance Learning and Telemedicine Grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture was approved in November and will be shared among the five districts.

RSU 10 applied for the grant and will administer it for all the districts.

According to a news release from the USDA, “Instructors from multiple school districts will expand their collaboration to deliver expanded course offerings and mental health services. Programming will include workforce development, job training, continuing education and professional development. The project will benefit approximately 3,000 students across multiple campuses.”

It’s the second time RSU 10 has received a grant from the USDA, district technology director Brian Carrier said. The first grant was in 2019 for $499,776 and was shared with Region 9 School of Applied Technology in Mexico and four other school districts.

Since the coronavirus pandemic came on the heels of the grant, it pushed back a lot of the district’s implementation and use of the computer and videoconferencing equipment purchased, Carrier said.

“We did use the equipment as we started coming back to school, teachers were spread out, we had remote sites, less teachers, and scattered students,” he said. “We used the equipment to bring life back into the classroom, virtual field trips, distance learning, teachers supporting teachers and students from remote buildings and sites.”

Carrier said as the teachers used their equipment, the district started getting many requests from educators for more equipment.

When Carrier first saw that a 2023 grant application was available from the USDA, he  said he “almost brushed it off and looked away” because it was stressful being the fiscal agent and middle-man between spread-out districts in 2019.

However, the district decided to “go for it,” he said, and immediately contacted surrounding districts in rural areas who were a good fit to join them for the grant.

The grant will enable schools to expand their technological equipment into more classrooms.

“The opportunities are truly endless and as we provide professional development on the hardware and technologies, teachers can take their classroom to new heights,” Carrier said.

“Teachers absolutely love the ease of use, including one of the best features: allowing annotation over anything… With a 20-point multitouch interface, it allows for interaction inside the classroom while providing the ability to record, stream and interact with users outside the classroom as well,” he said.

Carrier also provided examples of how the equipment will be used for virtual field trips and distance learning. For example, classrooms can participate with other classrooms in or outside their districts and experience immersive field trips to places many of them may never have had the opportunity to visit.

Educators have also used the technology to teach math and science courses to neighboring districts that didn’t have the courses offered at their schools, Carrier said.

In the field of mental health services, the equipment will allow counselors who sometimes work at several school buildings in rural areas to connect with students remotely when needed.

The five districts covered by the grant also plan to work with clinics, hospitals and other health care providers to offer more mental health services for students, Carrier said.

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